A switched reluctance motor (SRM) is a type of synchronous AC machine that converts reluctance torque into mechanical power. Switched reluctance motors are emerging as promising candidates in automotive applications due to the absence of rotor windings and permanent magnets on the rotor.
Typically, an encoder or resolver is installed in the switched reluctance motors to obtain the rotor position and speed for the torque or speed control of the motor. The disadvantages associated with this technique include increased cost and volume of the motor, as well as reduced reliability.
Other conventional techniques for rotor position determination include inductance based and flux-linkage based rotor position estimation methods. However, as the speed of the switched reluctance motor increases, the overlapping region of the active phases becomes significant and mutual flux effect between the active phases increases. Consequently, the accuracy of these conventional rotor position determination techniques is decreased.